Some questions

I’ve been asked quite a few questions as I’ve told people of my plans to start theology studies. Why are you doing this? Are you leaving architecture? What will you do with theology studies - design churches? All good questions, and after many applications, I had begun to form responses. But I realized there are other questions I’d like to ask.

I have a pretty insatiable thirst for experiencing other cultures. I’ve been trying to run away from Toronto for years, but God - kindly and wisely - keeps thwarting these plans. By living in this very culturally diverse city, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know many newcomers to the country. My hairdresser, who has lived in cities scattered across the continent, asked with a laugh, “what is home?” I didn’t really have a response, but I’d like to. I’d like to investigate belonging, from a desire to be hospitable, and to build a sense of home for the people I live among.

My other question, beauty, has been evading me ever since I began pursuing it. In my naivety, I thought I could just dip into the discourse, and the Bible’s elaborations of it, and sort it all out. Alas not. Its still an open question, and an obscured one: I find the idea of beauty to have been largely absent from my architectural education, from a significant proportion of celebrated contemporary art, and at the outer edges of many people’s radar today. We may just be calling it by other names, shifting it to other areas of life. I’d like to suggest beauty is still a vital pursuit, part of being at home in the world, while seeking a new one.

I hope to consider beauty and belonging, in the light of God’s Word to us, believing His hand shapes and touches all of these things. I would like to celebrate them, and the people I’m honoured to know and meet, pursuing similar passions. These two threads of beauty and belonging run through the things I love - art, architecture, living among and between cultures. I trust these pursuits will, in time, give me something to give.